Out of Sync

How can it work? World Harmony.

We are all in such different stages in our evolution. Presume, for a moment, that the evolution of people is tied to our environment. Where we live, what country, city. It’s apparent that proximity makes a difference. Just look at the division in ideals of those in large cities in the US, versus those in the outer regions. Are these groups evolving at the same rate, in the same direction? The right direction?

Taking this example of a single country housing around 4.25% of the global population, it should become pretty evident, that this isn’t going to be easy.

A quick summary of our planet. We are home to 200 or so countries. We have 7 continents, 5 habitable, practically speaking. My guess, is we have over 8 billion people. This is based on the counts of the various countries. I worked on the US Decennial Census (2020). Trust me when I tell you it’s a mammoth task, in our first-world country, to identify and count every single person.

I’ll take a minor dig at our 1st world status. While the system we employed was good, it failed in some rudimentary database manipulations sending my counters all over the place, as opposed to on a simple, direct, cost-effective route. There was a mileage reimbursement. It’d save money going on the most efficient route. As soon as we discovered it, my group overrode the system creating a far more efficient plan.

Since we deviated from the prescribed routes I would get a message that I had to respond to justifying why my staff was not complying. I initially put in the reason, but it had to be typed after quite a few clicks just to get to the response spot, then I just put in a ? hoping I’d be contacted so I could explain. We did report the issue, among a few others, but nothing changed. I’ll grant this was time-sensitive, we had to get something done.

The program was developed over the previous 10 years, possibly more. Every registered home was plotted and uploaded, with unique addresses identifying each. We used combinations of laptops and handhelds to do a varied range of tasks all with a single goal, this is what the census is supposed to be, counting every living person in our country.

In extreme, China is rumored to have facial recognition of every one of its 1.4 billion people. Wow…

Another, India has no fucking idea how many faces they have. How on earth would it be possible for them to count, how long would it take? The old joke about the guy guessing how many people are in a filled stadium. How did you do that? I counted their eyes and noses and then divided by three. Would have to allow for a margin of error for those with one eye or no nose.

The point of the above is quite simply to illustrate a vast majority (is this redundant?- not in today’s climate) of the globe is likely not getting an accurate count of their citizens, hence citizens of earth. Most people have no idea how many people live in their country, let alone their neighbors, continent, and so on. Does it matter?

Continent Pop. (est. bil.)

Asia 4.5

Africa 1.4

Europe .8

Americas 1.3

So much for that and what we are going to do to feed, clothe and house so many over-consuming mammals. Back to the harmony.

We’ve come up with a class system for countries. We have a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd world. What is now sorely lacking, is a category for the myriad countries with feet in more than one. I don’t know the precise definition; however as I’m researching, travel, I can see firsthand how 1st and 3rd are seemingly co-existing. Not unlike the US, city vs. urban, there are pockets of 1st surrounded by masses of 3rd. Does this make them, based on math, a 2nd? My guess is that this is prevalent in most countries.

Comparing like cities, it’s clear that some are lagging when it comes to material development. Others, like the Dubais of the world, are screaming ahead. This must have an effect on the psyche of the population, the expectation alone being vastly different. Some are looking to the future, and beyond, others just trying to keep up. Where could we possibly converge?

Then of course there’s language. We speak different ones, obviously, while some countries boast double-digit official languages. Dialects, well, who knows how many there are in China alone? It has to have some effect on our outlook, language, and words mean so much.

However, their interpretation would depend on how you were raised. We know many feel that a language has been thrust upon them. Want to participate in the global economy? Learn English, Chinese? For some (um me), picking up a new language is not easy. The difficulties of unifying are ever complex.

Does it require the luxury of time in order to participate? Is this what religion is all about? Not much unity there once you step outside a given faith. Most agree we are all made of the same stuff. We want to just get on with our lives, provide for families, and be happy. Some semblance of harmony?

Where does the environment come into play? Do we all need to agree that we are part of a larger ecosystem? We have a few basic needs without which we could not exist. It’s fascinating to attempt to understand the workings of other sentient beings even without the full understanding of our own species.

We evolve, like it or not, it’s a good thing (I think). Losing wisdom teeth, a given example, pity the irony. It’s slow relative to our extremely short life spans (these vary across the globe). Can we keep pace with the expansion we are seeing in the sciences, technology, etc? This, however, is likely to create further separation distancing the, not so inevitable, unification.

It appears less likely that we are going to align in the near future, not in my lifetime anyway. Whether it’s necessary is one of many debate points. Occasionally, events transpire that unify opposing groups, meaning there’s some hope. What the all-encompassing event will have likely been made into a movie. For me, it hurts to see and read about all the pain in the world. So many were displaced, some by war, others economically. The human spirit residing in each of us is resilient, able to adapt, and required to.

If there’s a movement seeking harmony for all, I’m in.

You?